Global 'Monopoly' Game Turns Google Maps into Game Board

Monopoly has always had a lot going for it--real estate, Get out of Jail Free cards, thimbles. But entertainment crossovers like The Simpsons aside, the game has largely stayed faithful to those aspects that have made it such a perennial favorite. Now the board game is going where it's never gone before: the early 21st century. Monopoly is getting Google Maps.

Monopoly has always had a lot going for it--real estate, Get out of Jail Free cards, thimbles. But entertainment crossovers like The Simpsons aside, the game has largely stayed faithful to those aspects that have made it such a perennial favorite. Now the board game is going where it's never gone before: the early 21st century. Monopoly is getting Google Maps.

Parker Bros. is launching Monopoly City Streets this week, an online game that promises "a world of property empire building on an unimaginable scale." Not only is Google Maps integrated into the board game, it is the board game. The company posted a preview page for the game, which reads, in part,

Own any street in the world. Build humble houses, crazy castles and stupendous skyscrapers to collect rent. Use MONOPOLY Chance Cards to sabotage your mates by building Hazards on their streets.

Brian Heater has worked at a number of tech pubs, including Engadget, Laptop, and PCMag (where he served as Senior Editor). Most recently, he was as the Managing Editor of TechTimes.com. His writing has appeared in Spin, Wired, Playboy, Entertainment Weekly, The Onion, Boing Boing, Publishers Weekly, The Daily Beast and various other publications. He hosts the weekly Boing Boing interview podcast RiYL, has appeared as a regular NPR contributor and shares his Queens apartment with a rabbit named Lucy.
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